Over 63,000 South Carolina Students Pledge Against Gun Violence

U.S. Attorney’s Office
October 28, 2010

District of South Carolina(803) 929-3000

COLUMBIA—United States Attorney Bill Nettles said that by close of business Friday of this week, members of the U.S. Attorney's Office and their law enforcement partners will have met with 63,000 students from 131 schools across the state as part of the ninth annual Student Pledge Against Gun Violence. Middle and high school students are signing a voluntary pledge promising that they will never take a gun to school, will never resolve a dispute with a gun, and will use their influence to prevent friends from using guns to resolve disputes. Elementary school children are making a simpler commitment, pledging that if they see a gun they will not touch it, they will assume that any gun they see might be loaded, and they will tell a teacher or a trusted adult.

The effort is part of South Carolina’s Project Cease Fire and the Department of Justice’s Project Safe Neighborhoods, both federal programs aimed at reducing gun violence. The Student Pledge Against Gun Violence is a national program honoring the role that young people, through their own decisions, can play in reducing gun violence. This campaign against youth gun violence culminated on Wednesday, October 27, 2010, in a Day of National Concern About Young People and Gun Violence. The program provides a means for beginning the conversation with young people about gun violence. Students from around the country join together in pledging to do their part to end gun violence.

“The response to the pledge campaign this year has been tremendous, perhaps in part due to the renewed awareness of the threat of school violence after a high school student in Conway shot at a Student Resource Officer just last month,” said Mr. Nettles. “Over 63,000 students from 131 schools across the state agreed to take part in this year’s pledge.”

The U.S. Attorney’s Office worked with law enforcement agencies throughout the state to make the pledges available to the schools. In addition to providing the pledges, the U.S. Attorney’s Office coordinated with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to provide speakers to go out to schools across South Carolina and talk to students about what they could do to reduce gun violence.

The following South Carolina schools and law enforcement agencies participated in this year’s pledge. For additional information concerning the national pledge, visit the National Student Pledge website at www.pledge.org.